Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila Odinga in tight House race — Poll

The race for State House remains tight, with Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga locked in a fierce battle, latest Ipsos poll shows.

The approval rating of Mr Kenyatta has dropped by a point while that of Mr Odinga has risen by a similar margin, the poll released on Sunday shows.

CONFIDENCE

Mr Kenyatta has the backing of 47 percent of Kenyans, from 48 at the end of June, while Mr Odinga is at 43 per cent from 42 per cent.

The survey shows that five per cent of Kenyans are undecided, some will not vote while others will vote for other presidential candidates.

If the race is reduced to the two main candidates, Mr Kenyatta will get 52 per cent while Mr Odinga will manage 48 per cent support.

The other candidates are Cyrus Jirongo of the United Democratic Party (UDP), Ekuru Aukot of Thirdway Alliance, Abduba Dida of the Alliance for Real Change (ARC), and three independents: Joseph Nyagah, Michael Wainaina and Japheth Kavinga.

Of the presidential running mate, Mr Kalonzo Musyoka is an asset to Mr Odinga since Kenyan confidence in him is higher as compared to William Ruto, Mr Kenyatta’s running mate.

Some 34 per cent of Kenya have confidence in Mr Musyoka while 33 percent believe Mr Ruto can do a good job as Kenya’s number two.

RUN-OFF

The survey also showed that 61 percent of Kenyans feel the country is heading in the wrong direction while only 27 percent believe Kenya is on the right path.

The rest do not know.

In the survey 48 per cent of Jubilee supporters feel the country is headed in the right direction while 87 percent of Nasa supporters said Kenya is heading in wrong direction.

Ipsos Lead Researcher Tom Wolf ruled out a possibility of a run-off, saying the election will will be won in round one.

Voter turn-out, he said, will be key in determining who— between Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga— would carry the day.

The poll was conducted from July 3-12 through phone and face-to-face interviews, and a total of 2,209 people participated.